


Assumptions

by Simbanrat



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25913671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simbanrat/pseuds/Simbanrat
Summary: We all make assumptions when we meet people.Ben & Callum + other characters and what they assume about our Ballum.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 8
Kudos: 42





	Assumptions

**Author's Note:**

> I keep trying to write something and it never turns out the way I want. This is the second attempt and still isn't the story I want to tell. I still quite like it though 😂.

It’s natural that when you meet someone for the first time you make assumptions about them. It’s human nature to assume someone is something when the outward signs point to it. The fat girl who loves chocolate, the camp guy who has to be gay or the blonde who’s a bit dumb.

If you met Ben Mitchell for the first time you would assume he’s cold, a hard guy who doesn’t care about anything. Someone who gets in fights and causes trouble wherever he goes. But those who really know him know the truth, they see the soft and gentle guy he is when he’s surrounded by the people he loves and who love him. 

His daughter sees her daddy, her favourite person in the world who will dress up as a princess and dance around the living room to Little Mix with her. Her daddy who makes up bedtime stories for her and does all the voices to make it more real.

His dad sees a disappointment. As much as Ben tries to be the ‘perfect Mitchell’, he never seems to succeed. He has never been able to live up to the perfect image of a son Phil wants, instead he fails and makes mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes in his dad’s books is that he’s gay, a source of unhappiness for a man who only ever wanted a son in his own image so instead he busies himself nurturing other boys, wanting them to be the son he never had to replace Ben. 

His mum sees the little boy he used to be before she didn’t see him for ten years, the quiet and shy kid with the glasses and hearing aid. To see him now, a fully grown man who continues to get himself into trouble to try and please his dad breaks her heart. The caring son he used to be seems to get further and further away from her the more he tries to be a proper Mitchell. She still see flashes of the Ben she used to know, especially when he’s around his daughter.

His brother sees a slut, but the less said about that the better since his brother is a judgemental prick who has been married five times. 

His brother from another mother sees the man he can rely on over anyone else in the world. When he feels like there is no hope his ‘brother’ is there to save and help him. He could trust Ben with his life and has on more than one occasion tested that theory. 

His baby momma sees the guy who stepped up to be a father. They were both scared teenagers, just testing if Ben was really gay and she took off with the kid when she was young so he didn’t see her to start with. But since reconnecting he has been a better daddy than she could have ever hoped for, the way he dotes on his daughter and the way she responds to him absolutely melts his heart. 

His boyfriend sees the soppy git Ben is when he’s in privacy of their flat. The way he reacts like a cat to a touch, when he strokes his cheek he nearly purrs with contentment, closing his eyes and leaning into it like a moggy rubbing itself up against your hand while you’re trying to type something on a computer. He sees how vulnerable he is, how so many knocks in life have knocked his confidence and self worth, that the hard man act is merely a front and his favourite place to be is to be wrapped around his boyfriend in bed, just the two of them hiding away from the outside world. 

If you met Callum Highway for the first time you’d assume he was nice but maybe a bit dim. He seems harmless and sweet, somebody you could have a laugh with but wouldn’t want to talk to him about anything serious. Those who know him know how much depth he has, how when pushed he can push back just as hard.

His ex fiancée sees a guy who broke her heart, telling her at her hen party that he cheated on her. But she also sees the man who is one of her best friends, who would do anything to help her and protected her when she needed it, lashing out to defend her against a bad man. 

His mate sees him as family, the kid brother of his best friend who was always hanging around. A shy boy who has grown into a strong minded man who knew what he wanted and went for it. Brave and a hero in the army and the man who shot him as well as saved his pub and home. 

His brother sees him as an innocent. Someone who needed protecting from their father as a child but is more than capable of protecting himself now. A man who left a bad home and situation and made a new life for himself. He started again in a new place with new people and was finally able to be who he was. He is the bravest person he’s ever known. 

His friend sees him as ‘halfwit’ and always will, she’s pretty set in her ways. 

His boyfriend sees the strong guy he really is. The man who will stand up to him if he does something stupid, who will tell his dad to back off if he needed him to, that is something very few people do. He sees the man who tells him when he’s being dumb and would flounce and storm out if provoked enough. He doesn’t see the ‘halfway’ many others do, he sees the 100% all the way there man he loves. 

When Ben met Callum for the first time he assumed he was just the latest in a long line of men that Whitney was dating. Somebody who was destined to be another ex soon enough. He seemed nice enough and maybe a bit of a pushover, an easy target to shift a dodgy motor on. His first assumptions were wrong. Yes he was destined to be Whitney’s ex, but Ben never assumed he would become his boyfriend. He was in no way a pushover, he kept Ben on his toes more than anyone else in his life, he fought long and hard for them to get together and he fought just as hard for them whenever Ben tried to push him away. 

When Callum met Ben for the first time he assumed he was confident and outgoing, outwardly strong and flaunting his sexuality with innuendos and come ons. He seemed friendly enough but not somebody you’d want to get on the wrong side of. But he helped Callum to realise who he really was, made him proud and confident and to fall in love with him. He was vulnerable though, the assumption he was confident was wrong, merely a facade to hide his fear of never being good enough and his attempts at self sabotaging being happy. 

When Stuart found out Ben and Callum had a thing he assumed that Ben was the one to initiate it. He was a shark circling around his baby brother, a predator who took advantage of someone who needed protecting. He beat and threatened Ben, assuming it was the best thing to do and what Callum would want. The assumption nearly ruined the chance of them getting together, the relationship of the brothers and Callum’s future happiness. In truth Callum made the first move, Ben wouldn’t have it any other way, needing it to be his choice entirely and not wanting to take advantage. 

When Whitney found out at her hen party about them she assumed the same thing as Stuart, storming round to Ben’s home and shouting at him that he only wanted Callum because he was already happy with someone else. He never denied it, letting her assume whatever she wanted and not wanting to do anything to hurt to Callum. 

When everyone else found out about them they assumed it wouldn’t last. Ben had a different guy every week and Callum seemed like a loyal sorta man. They assumed Ben wasn’t the settling down type of person and he’d be bored with a boyfriend and joint gym membership. They were wrong too, Ben wanted nothing else than to be in a proper relationship and to feel loved again. He’d had so much loss and pain in his life he used casual sex to fill the void when all he wanted was someone to snuggle on the sofa with. 

When people found out Callum wanted to be a policeman they assumed it would be the end for them. A copper and a criminal couldn’t be together after all, the assumption that good vs bad wouldn’t work was wrong too. Callum liked that Ben was a bad boy and he didn’t want him to lose his edge or who he was at heart. It was difficult sure, but he was in love with him and he knew what he was getting into from the start. Now Callum is training to be a cop and Ben continues to be not entirely legit, but it works. 

When Ben went deaf he assumed that Callum would leave him. He already felt like he wasn’t good enough, now he felt like he had nothing to offer. Callum could go find himself someone he deserves, someone good and who wasn’t broken. Callum assumed Ben would try and push him away, he always did in a silly attempt to protect him, but he wasn’t having it and told him he loved him anyway, hearing or deaf, he’d still do him in a heartbeat. 

The first time they went to bed together, not a rushed blow job in a park but proper all night of making love, Ben assumed that Callum would want to fuck him. He did of course, but Ben never assumed that he would be quite so demanding in Ben fucking him too. Looking at them you’d assume it’s one way traffic, and it is, just not in the direction you’d think. 

Assumptions are nearly always wrong. 


End file.
